A treasure trove of television memorabilia sold at a Dallas auction earlier this month, fetching the owner of the collection a cool $5.35 million.
Heritage Auctions presented the Comisar Collection Platinum Signature Auction, which consisted of nearly 1,000 props, costumes, and sets from some of television’s most beloved and iconic shows, including M*A*S*H, All in the Family, The Tonight Show, Batman, Wonder Woman, Gilligan’s Island, I Dream of Jeannie, and many more.
The owner of the collection, 58-year-old James Comisar, accumulated the memorabilia over a period of more than 30 years, but his affinity for the TV shows began in childhood.
Growing up in Los Angeles, he came home from school every day and watched television. He described the characters he became so familiar with as “almost like after-school friends,” as he recalled to the Associated Press.
Comisar went on to become a comedy writer after graduation from high school and soon found himself spending much of his time on studio lots. He noticed that the props and sets from the TV shows he dearly loved were crammed into storage and were deteriorating, with no organized system to protect or archive them.
The sets and props were often thrown away, sold, or rented out when a show ended. He decided these items needed a home and someone to care for them. As he collected the memorabilia over the years, Comisar had in mind one day opening a museum to display his television artifacts, but that idea never came to fruition.
Rather than continue to pay to store his vast collection in two large temperature-controlled warehouses, Comisar decided to sell the items with the hope that the fans who buy them will treasure them as much as he does.
“The auction’s success confirmed what I have always known: that television characters are cherished members of our extended family and that their stories and our own are inseparable,” Comisar said in a press release.
“The dedicated fans who acquired these TV treasures will surely give them kind homes and brighten the memories of bygone programs and performers. These pieces have finally been afforded the cultural significance they deserve, and I am honored to pass them on,” he added in the press release.
Among the items sold at the three-day auction were Edith and Archie Bunker’s chairs from All in the Family, as well as the half-house set of 704 Hauser St. from the show, fetching $250,000 and $125,000, respectively. Both auction lots went to the same bidder.
The desk used in the final ten years of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson sold for $275,000, while the entire set of The Late Show with David Letterman sold for $100,000.
The directional signpost from M*A*S*H, which featured the names of the characters’ hometowns and their distance from Korea, went for $150,000. Skipper’s hat from Gilligan’s Island sold for $62,500.
However, the crown jewel of Comisar’s collection was undoubtedly the bar from the hit TV series Cheers. The bar counter served as the focal point of the show.
“You’ll find no IMDb credit for it, but this humble and traditional neighborhood bar was featured in all 275 episodes and was the singular artifact that all main cast members and guest stars alike gathered around during all 11 seasons of one of the greatest television comedies of all time,” Heritage Auctions wrote.
The bar, including the brass rails, bar stools, and set walls, was the highest-selling item in the auction, selling for $675,000. The brass cash register and the player piano from the show were sold separately.
The week before the auction, two stars of Cheers came to Dallas to sit at the bar one last time and share a beer with Comisar. George Wendt, who played bar patron Norm Peterson, said, “It was fantastic, so great to see the bar,” in a comment to People.
John Ratzenberger, who played know-it-all postman Cliff Clavin, said, “This set was as much a character of the show as we were.”
Ratzenberger, as well as his costar Kirstie Alley, engraved their names on the bar at some point during the 11-year run of the show.
From all accounts, the auction appears to have been a rousing success.
“We knew from the moment we began working with James [Comisar] last year that this auction would be extraordinary, and thanks to Heritage’s client-collectors we were not wrong,” Heritage Auctions’ Chief Strategy Officer Joshua Benesh said in the press release. “These are amazing items with amazing stories — James’ among them. We are proud to not only find them new homes but to share them with the world.”
Videos highlighting the stories behind the Comisar collection and the complete results of the auction can be found here.
